This, as well as other important findings brought to light by the archaeological shovel last year in the town and necropolis of Aiga during the rescue excavations, was presented by the Honorary Superintendent of Antiquities, Angeliki Kottaridis, at the 36th Annual Archaeological Meeting for “the Archaeological Project in Macedonia and Thrace in 2023”, held in Thessaloniki.
It is a tomb that was located in an area with mounds, in the northwest corner of the necropolis, which was “met” by the …drainage channel. “Of course it didn’t damage him, the excavation stopped immediately and we dug him up. An operation was immediately carried out to maintain the facade, because it had mortars and then we opened it, not much, just enough to be able to enter”, described Mrs. Kottaridis. The facade of the tomb was simple, without a door, with a doorway closed with stones. In fact, a valuable burial pyre was found at the site, which provided very interesting information to the archaeologists.
Immediately after, Mrs. Kottaridis presented photos of the interior of the tomb, the net dimensions of which are 3.70 x 2.70 meters. He was impressed by the image of the golden ribbon with the big bows, which is painted around the perimeter of the tomb. “This is an important grave because the man buried here, the main dead, had a shield reinforced with iron parts, and the weapons that were partially saved show that they were made in a very good workshop, so we are probably dealing with one of the supporters”, pointed out the archaeologist.
The colored mortars of the facade, as the archaeologists noticed, are from two phases and this is explained because later his wife was also buried there. Angeliki Kottaridis, in fact, showed the public photos of the jewelry found in the tomb that prove this claim, while what stands out from the findings is a golden myrtle wreath. “Very close to this grave, just 100 meters away, is the grave that Dimitris Pantermanlis dug in ’69 and there are two other mounds there. It’s probably an array of rich tombs,” the archaeologist estimated.
Angeliki Kottaridis also referred to the part of the wall that was found as part of the excavations on the occasion of the drainage project, on the road that goes up to the palace of the Goats. This element is particularly interesting, as he said, as it shows exactly the limits of the Goats. “The wall is a little more than two meters wide, which means six Macedonian feet. The old wall of the 5th century dating back to the years of Perdiccas II, has a width of about one meter, that is three feet,” he said characteristically, making the comparison with the oldest find.
Most of the excavations, however, took place in the “heart” of the necropolis, very close to the Royal Cluster of the Temenids, where the burial of a warrior was found who had a helmet on his feet and held a sword in his right hand on his chest. “We still have a man, who doesn’t have a helmet, but he has a nice sword that he also holds in his right hand, his rings have fallen off and we also have the fibula that held the chlamys,” he described, showing the corresponding images, while as he stated, all these objects have been preserved.
It was even mentioned in a rare case of an archaic tomb of 530 BC. which was found, where there is a skeleton as well as large iron forks with lead heads.
The Archaeological Conference, which takes place in the Ceremony Hall of the old building of the Faculty of Philosophy of the AUTH and concludes tonight, is also broadcast online at the link:
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